Social Grace
by Fandork
Summary: Horio definitely thinks Valentine's Day is a stupid, meaningless tradition. Oneshot, HorioSakuno.


A/N: Self-challenge: Horio romance. Hehehe. Horio and Sakuno have always tickled my fancies, but I have yet to see anything for them, so here you go. :P

Pairing: Horio/Sakuno

Notes: Short, one-shot. Fluff. Valentines/White Day remix of sorts.

Please review!

---

"It's _new_," Horio suggests, his voice inclining with growing frustration.

Tomoka sniffs an upturned nose at this, and says nothing. Horio lacks such social grace sometimes, that while she may have had, through grade-school, a never-ending penchant for patience with him, it still almost surprises her that he can be so tasteless. Horio is, ultimately, a wreck, a disgrace, and completely _color-blind_.

Horio grows more uneasy under Tomoka's silent appraisals than even her straight-out, loudmouth way of tearing him apart. He huffs, impatiently.

"_What is wrong this time_?"

"Idiot," She says, then creases her lips together tightly. Horio is, after all, standing in front of her, sporting a mis-buttoned, striped polo, tucked half-into his shorts, with thick tabi socks and sandals. And he is claiming to be ready to go out to meet his friends for the day.

"_What_?" Horio squawks again, breaking into Tomoka's assessments.

She looks him in the eye, and sighs, "Honestly, you're so clueless. Button your shirt up, will you?"

As she turns to lead them onto the summer street, Horio mutters about his shirt already being buttoned as he follows her, to which she waves off. His fingers clumsily rebutton his shirt, and they turn the corner out past the iron gate of his house.

---

"We know, Horio. Yes, yes." Katsuo places his palms open in front of him to stop any further of Horio's enthusiastic ranting, and excuses himself to throw away his trash in the bin.

"Two years of tennis experience," Kachiro chimes in, to prove to Horio that they indeed _did _know.

"Yes, well," Horio mumbles, slightly pacified, "Anyone of my knowledge would say it wasn't important how much chocolate a guy gets. It's a stupid tradition, anyway. I bet Echizen agrees, don't you Echizen?"

Ryoma, at the mention of his name, quietly says, "Maa," and chews on the tip of his straw. He turns his gaze away, eyeing the table. "Mada mada dane."

"Right, exactly. So it's just stupid, and so shut up about it already, Tomoka."

"You're just jealous, Horio. Because you never get any chocolate, except from me and your relatives." She shoots him an unsavory leer, to which he only rolls his eyes, and blushes at the tips of his ears.

"Mou," Sakuno says, smiling nervously. "That's okay, Horio-Kun. I've never gotten many gifts either. It's not a big deal." With a bit of an uncomfortable shift to smooth things over between the two, she begins again, "Ne, Tomo, you said your family is taking a trip next week?"

Tomoka nods graciously, and begins to explain the details. Katsuo slips back into the booth beside Kachiro, and comments that the site she would be visiting was an interesting place, and he'd been there once when he was younger.

Sakuno smiles as their excitement for the discussion lifts, sitting comfortably between Tomoka and Ryoma. Ryoma even looks up to add in a remark to the conversation. She chuckles into her hand, to cover the light pink tinge of her cheeks.

When they all get up to leave the diner, she walks next to Ryoma, and chatters to him, and he nods when he is supposed to.

"Aa, Ryoma-Kun," She says, "You did very well the other day at your match." And she blushes fully, and Tomoka grabs her shoulder and voices her agreement.

Sakuno wears a flowered spring dress, which twirls around her knees shyly. Horio looks at her strangely with a tip of his head. He thinks he's seen the dress on Tomoka once before when she was trying to impress a boy, maybe, but he finds it cute. Scrunching up his nose, he decides that he does not like the idea of anything of Tomoka's being _cute_.

He continues to look on anyway, without noticing enough to ask himself why.

---

That Valentine's Day, Tomoka is lifting up her nose again in that way of hers, curiously peering down at him. "Lucky, Horio. You actually got more chocolate this year than expected." She pats him chidingly on the back.

Horio himself mumbles embarrassedly, doing his best to ignore Tomoka, and reaches up to scratch the back of his neck, "Th-Ah, thank you." He reaches out to accept the packaged chocolate Sakuno holds out to him from her bag.

"It's okay," She says, smiling. "When I went out to buy chocolates, I thought Horio-Kun might want some."

"That was nice--ah, of you." Horio looks to the side, still confused. He hesitates, and takes the chocolates, uncertainly pushing them under his arm with his tennis racket.

When Sakuno leaves to find Katsuo and Kachiro, he realizes his face his red.

Tomoka, who watches Sakuno retreat, begins to bubble up with giggles. Normally Horio would yell at her, but he is busy biting his lip and looking at his shoes.

---

Horio, finishing his homework at his desk after two hours, finally surmounts the courage to risk a glance at the chocolate Sakuno had given him, which was placed to his right. He puts his pencil down, and stares.

When he stands, his knees are shaky, but he manages to make his way down to the kitchen, where his mom is making dinner.

He approaches her, and opens his mouth, closes it, pauses a moment and says, "Mom, how do you make chocolate?"

His mother turns to face him, with a broad, knowing smile, and, although it is almost a month too early for him to be asking her this question, she gathers him into a hug.

After an awkward moment, he responds to something she had said into his shoulder, blushing madly. "_No_," He assures, "I have _no _intention of _ever_ marrying Tomoka."

After a month of hard labor, Horio's cooking skills still leave much to be desired, and his chocolates still end up tasting terribly, but Sakuno accepts them, and the next time they all go out she wears Tomoka's dress again, but she walks along and chatters next to Horio with, he thinks, a slight color to her cheeks.

---

End.

ProdigyFandork


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